I keep reading stats and figures saying that roughly 20-25% of Hillary Clinton's supporters are racist; or at least that race is a major factor in helping them decide who to vote for.

I really didn't want to believe it was true, that so many democrats could think in such a closed minded way. Unfortunately in the last few days I have come to believe that the number is probably higher than we are being led to believe. Surprise! Race is an issue in the United States.

Barack Obama's pastor said some pretty amazing things. He was very blunt about it, to put it mildly. However, answer me this. Was he wrong? No, he wasn't. The fact is everything that man said was true.

I can understand why you don't like how he delivered the message, but that doesn't make his message any less factual. And it doesn't make me any less patriotic for saying so. This country and our government have done some deplorable things. There is no excuse it. And Wright was correct to say so.

Harold Ford gave every bigot in Tennessee an excuse NOT to vote for him when he had his "angry black man" moment in his senatorial campaign. You saw his chances go right out the window. Yes, the "call me" ad was damaging, but not as much as him showing up to confront Corker.

Apparently standards have changed since then. Now, I guess it has come to the point where ANY angry black man will do. It doesn't even have to be the candidate himself. Just ANY angry black man he knows will do, as long as they are black and angry. Did I say that enough? Any angry black man will do.

I keep reading on here that Obama should have known what his pastor's views were. Wright must have done it before. Obama knew the man for 17 years. How could he not have known? He must be lying to us.

That is just incredible. How amazing it is to be in company with so many psychics. I swear, we could start our own psychic friends hotline. We can get Ms. Cleo! I can hear her saying "call me now" with her Jamaican accent. Wouldn't she fit this situation perfectly?! Shit, if you want we can go get Dion Warwick too. Those black people, they are just too much.Of course, we "don't mind" those kind of black people, do we? They make us laugh; we don't have to take them serious; the don't pose a "threat."

In order to illustrate my point above, I would like to share something with you.

Let me say first that I am a native american male and I have an african american girlfriend. I was going to bring her home to "meet the parents" next month. That was the plan until I learned (less than one month ago) that my father is a complete racist.

Let me repeat that. I learned less than one month ago that my father is a racist. Well, a bigot at the very least.

I will be 30 years old this year. About two or three weeks ago my father and I were having a discussion about politics and he PROUDLY told me that there is no way he would vote for a N@@@@r for president. He then continued to tell me why not, and how "they" are, and how "they" stick together, and how "they" will stab you in the back.

30 years. 30 years and I just found that out. I lived with him for 18 years. (One more than Obama has attended Wright's services.)

I never knew. So please, don't tell me that "you know" Obama knew. Quite frankly, you don't "know" the first thing about it. You never know until you hear it for yourself.

Now, what I do know what you are going to say; because I've read it over and over. "But Wright isn't part of Obama's family." He should have just cut him loose; right?

Well, maybe Wright isn't a blood relative, but who are any of us to tell Obama, or anyone else for that matter, who they can consider family. No, they weren't related by blood, but they have had a 17 year relationship.

Wright married Barack and Michelle. I believe he baptized their children. (I could be wrong on that.) He has been a spiritual adviser for Obama's entire family.

If that doesn't make you family, then I don't know what does. And if people can't see that, then I really feel sad for them. It must be very difficult to live with such narrow-minded beliefs.

So, I would suggest you all do yourselves a favor. Before casting one more stone at Obama for the remarks his pastor made, check out your own back yard.

I guarantee that every single one of you have a least one family member or close friend who is either a racist, a sexist, homophobic, or bigoted in some other way.

You go find that person. You go see how easy it is to denounce, reject and cast them away, as you have so vehemently demanded Obama do.

It seems as if it would be hard to suppress latent racist thoughts, especially from your spouse and son. You say you are 30, which would put him, presumably, somewhere between 50 and 65. Are you sure he's not having some medical issues which may be causing these feelings and/or articulations? Just seems pretty unusual for someone to start spouting racist comments at that age.

It sounds like your girlfriend is really incredible, open-minded, and has a huge heart. Mine is breaking reading your post, but she really does sound wonderful and I think you must be, too.

Excellent post, demdog78.

Edited to add: I am so incredibly lucky to have been raised by two white parents who are open-minded Obama voters, and who instilled in me a grounded sense of equality, justice and brotherhood. Damn, a lot of the people in this thread are just fucked up.

1. A belief that human races have distinctive characteristics that determine their respective cultures, usually involving the idean that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.2. A policy of enforcing such asserted right3. A system of government and society based upon it.

Definition of liberation theology, the basis of Rev. Wright's ministry:

Liberation theology is a school of theology within Christianity, particularly in the Catholic Church. Liberation theology focuses on Jesus Christ as not only the Redeemer but also the Liberator of the oppressed. It emphasizes the Christian mission to bring justice to the poor and oppressed, particularly through political activism.

Can you not see a difference? It is not reverse racism if black ministry focuses its attention on its own poor and oppressed.

It's not any more racist than when certain other people attack everyone and everything who have the nerve to point out racism in this society as "racists," "un-American," "race-card players," "race pimps," etc.

Pointing out racism, even when it doesn't exist, is not racist. However, attacking those who point out racism is often done to mask, defend, justify and divert attention away from actual racism.

59. Bill Clinton heavily carried the black vote in both his elections.

Edited on Sat Mar-15-08 05:39 PM by demdog78

Hillary split it with Obama in the beginning. It was only after they realized he was viable that they started voting for him in mass.

Oh yeah, and after the Clintons started playing the race card.

And Obdawhatever... she didn't change the subject, and I didn't say SHE did. She made a smart ass comment on someone else's comment. Reading is fundamental on a forum. I would think with your vast experience on DU you would have learned that by now.

The difference is this guy has been saying these things for years. If you had heard your dad say those things 18 years ago you would have known then right? Obama is digging an huge hole for himself on this one.

Now, if it were just an issue of having a friend who is a closet bigot, but keeps those views to himself, for the most part, I'd agree with you. It's be pretty easy to not know.

But when the friend gets up in front of your congregation every Sunday, and on a regular basis preaches bigotry and racial divisiveness in front of hundreds of people--people who are your friends and peers and contributors--and somehow you never hear about the bigoted statements? And you're NEVER present when they're made? And word never gets back to you that your pastor is spouting some wild stuff...

"People who are easily offended, or who are not accustomed to having their opinions (including deeply personal convictions) challenged may not feel entirely comfortable here. A thick skin is necessary to participate on this or any other discussion forum."

We have heard about a few of Rev. Wrights sermons given over the course of 20 years. We have not heard about the thousands of other sermons he gave, which created an atmosphere where his church built up a legacy of aiding and assisting many many in a variety of wonderful programs and services. If Rev Wright was such a "hateful" man as some say he was how did he build such a wonderful church?

Where did Wright say he hated white people? Or are you so identified with the powers that be that you take personally any criticism of TPTB?

The CIA-drug connection is hardly "conspiracy crap." The connection between the CIA and drug-running goes back at least as far as the Vietnam War. During the '80s, the US got very cozy with right-wing drug runners. Those forces were given some degree of protection as long as they cooperated with the US government's foreign policy objectives. You have to be a pollyanna to think, after all this time and all the accumulated evidence, that this isn't so. It's easy to see why a lot of blacks blame the CIA in general. There is a truth there, whether you want to see it or not.

And you don't have to believe me. You can do your own research. How about starting with the Kerry Report? You remember John Kerry, don't you?

Where would you like me to go? Mexico? No thanks.Canada? Um, maybe if I could find a sponsor to take me in for that first year... You know, how your president made it so that if you move to Canada you can't work for the first year.

And, for the record, since I am Native American, I'm not going anywhere. You should be ashamed for even insinuating that.

However, you brilliantly make my point about your type of mindset and people just like you, so I don't mind.

Ice Cube (before he went all Hollywood) was always held up as nothing more than a "hate whitey" rapper. But if you actually listen to the lyrics of his music, it wasn't just about "hating whitey," it was articulating the rage at police brutality and racial injustice that he and other black people in his peer group felt ("Tear This Shit Up" is one of my favourite songs of his).

Instead of indignant white people demanding that black people stop feeling a certain way (like Ice Cube does, or Reverend Wright may), maybe they should start trying to figure out WHY they feel that way.

"After Wright's retirement, copies of his sermons were offered for sale. News organizations like ABC News bought them and searched them for more controversial material. The ABC News Blotter website, edited by reporter Brian Ross, found "repeated denunciations of the U.S. based on what he described as his reading of the Gospels and the treatment of black Americans." In addition to providing his comments after 9/11 that had been previously publicized, the site also quoted Wright as saying "The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, God damn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people" <16> Another controversial comment discovered at this time was Wright's reference to AIDS conspiracy theories: "The government lied about inventing the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of color. The government lied." <17>"

105. A lot of people may be pretty accepting except for ONE group that they can't stand.

I had a friend who was one of the most accepting person in the world. Then she went off on a tirade one day about Indians (India Indians) and how they burned incense or something. I was stunned. I still never could figure out where that came from.

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